Not Like Us
by XLadySnowX
Summary: A moment spent between the ex-Tyrant King Logan and his little sister, a hundred days before the army of darkness. Logan X Princess – sibling fluff only, no incest. One-shot.


**Title: **Not Like Us

**Pairing(s): **Implied Princess/Elliott only.

**Summary: **A moment spent between the ex-Tyrant King Logan and his little sister, a hundred days before the army of darkness. Logan X Princess – sibling fluff only, no incest. One-shot.

**Rating/Warnings: **T – fluff, possible OCCness (well, it's hard to write Logan and fluff, you know!) with a sexual reference or two tucked away there. Also, some light swearing. NO INCEST.

**Timeline: **Takes place before the "Darkness Incarnate" comes to Albion in Fable III.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Fable, I'm merely playing with it's characters. No profit is being made from this story.

**Author's Note: **So I finished Fable III last night after getting it yesterday (I know, I'm such a noob :P ) but I got so addicted to it and I _had _to know how it ended. Anyway, Logan was a character that really fascinated me (probably in part due to the fact that he was voiced by Michael Fassbender… but that's not the point) anyway, this idea was born after I finished the game and I felt the (non-existent) closure between Logan and the Princess was extremely unsatisfactory. So yes, in this, Logan's life was spared (obviously) and the Princess is married to Elliott (and he was voiced by Nicholas Hoult! Am I the only person who thinks this game had the best voice actor list EVER? Not to mention Simon Bloody Pegg as Ben… but anyway, I'm getting off-topic) and she has been having some difficulty making Queenly decisions. As I stated above, there may be some OCC-ness going on, but it was difficult to avoid because I don't really see Logan being the fluffy type (well, unless it's with his sister, as we got some indication of that) anyway, on with the show! Don't forget to drop me a review! They do make the world go around : )

Logan had been scanning a misused section of the library when he took notice of the shouting match that was going on between his younger sister and the Resistance leader Page in another room. He couldn't hear exactly what was being said, as the walls were far too thick to allow that, but the fact that he could still hear raised voices through them indicated that this was a very heated argument indeed.

She'd been arguing with quite a few people of late, he noticed. If it wasn't Page, then it was usually her husband Elliott or Reaver. Once or twice, she'd shouted at that buffoon _Captain_ Ben Finn, but he'd never raised his voice back at her. Not his Queen, whom he held so much respect for.

When Logan had been King, nobody dared to raise their voice at him. He'd been respected alright, but not in the same way his sister was now. His respect was born of fear; hers was born of love. Even now, he still wasn't sure which was more efficient. People like Page, or the Auroran leader Kalin, while they respected her as much as Finn did, had unrealistic expectations of her as a leader. He knew she needed to build funds for the upcoming war in less than four months, but everybody still expected her to be able to build schools, repair everything, do this and that… and that was where she was forced to make difficult decisions. Disappoint the people of Albion and refuse them the simple pleasures in order to preserve their lives a hundred days from now. She couldn't afford to give them everything they want and still save their lives.

Naturally, being the woman she was, she hadn't been able to refuse them much – she'd agreed to the school, to lower the tax rate, to preserve Bower Lake… but when they'd run low financially, in a tight spot, she'd agreed to Reaver's suggestion of turning the Bowerstone Industrial Homeless Shelter into a whorehouse. What she'd forgotten, was that her beloved childhood sweetheart turned spouse Elliott had spent quite a lot of time there, helping the homeless and the needy with his _ex_-fiancée Linda; needless to say, he wasn't pleased to find out what she'd done to a place he'd put every ounce of his blood, sweat and tears into, and they'd been fighting ever since.

Their fighting had upset their daughter Amelie, so the little girl spent more time around Sir Walter or Ben Finn than she did her parents. To Logan's surprise, sometimes she would wander down to the library to spend time with him, though Elliott discouraged this on a regular basis. He still didn't trust Logan… no, not only distrusted – he hated him. But who could blame him, really?

Logan wished he could do something to help his sister. Wished there was someway he could make her see that by trying to help them by bending to their every whim, she was actually harming them. Sometimes, a leader needed to be ruthless. They needed to be able to make tough decisions, and accept that sometimes, the crowd will hate them for what they've done. But sometimes, you needed the compassion she had. Albion needed a leader who possessed all those traits.

Truth was, Albion needed their mother. But she was dead, and she would never come back, so they would have to make do with her children, who would never live up to her perfect image. But Avo knew they would try. And try, and try…

Quite abruptly, Logan was snapped out of his reverie when his sister stormed through the wooden double doors unexpectedly. He jumped slightly when she slammed the door behind her. Her eyes were shut tightly, her hands curled up into fists pressed against her temples as she let out a frustrated growl. Logan's eyes darted between the young Queen and the second set of doors that led out onto a flight of stairs. He wondered if he would be able to make it inconspicuously, before she noticed he was there. But before he could even take so much as one step in the direction of the door, the young Queen Charlotte opened her eyes, and saw him there.

It was a very awkward moment. The siblings stared at each other for what felt like an eternity, before Logan decided to be the one who spoke up.

"Pardon me, little sister. I'll just get out of your way." He put a rather large, dusty book back on its shelf, before he started to gather a few of his papers off the desk.

"No, wait." She called out. Perplexed, he turned back around on his heel to look at her. "This is your home too, Logan. You have every right to be wherever you wish… don't think you have to leave a room just because I enter it."

Whatever he'd been expecting her to say, it certainly hadn't been that. He wasn't sure what to think of it, but regardless, he put the papers back down on the desk, never taking his eyes off her. She walked around a few of the desks with a tired gracefulness, before slumping down in a chair unceremoniously a few meters away from him, rubbing her temple with her fingertips. "I wonder what the chances of me shouting out to Hobson to get me a drink and him actually hearing me."

"Probably not too bad, actually." He chuckled, turning around and leaning against the desk. "Considering the volume of your voice from just before."

Charlotte's eyes darkened. "So you heard that, huh?"

"Not precisely. I heard shouting, not coherent sentences."

Her eyes closed again, but only briefly this time.

"It's so hard, Logan." She said in a voice that was strangely childlike. "It's been so difficult…"

He just nodded. "I understand, Charlotte."

"If it's not Page and Reaver at each other's throats in the throne room about new development in Albion, its Kalin constantly wanting favors for Aurora and shoving the promise I made in my face… I just wish there was someway I could explain to them, that the last thing Albion needs at the moment is any of the stuff they're suggesting – it needs soldiers, it needs money. We don't have long left now, and I've been forced to make a few decisions I'm not exactly proud of in order to gain the funding we need. But still, every day, it's people wanting more money, and if I don't give it to them, I'm a tyrant, and if I do, I please them for a little while but ultimately I condemn the to their deaths."

There was a brief silence between the two siblings.

"I'm sorry." Charlotte said finally, turning away from her older brother. "I don't know why I'm telling you all of this."

Logan sighed deeply. "You're telling me this because we're blood, and mother always said it was family you turn to in times of need, because nobody else will ever give you the unconditional support they will."

"I suppose you are right." Charlotte nodded, though she avoided his gaze. She was exhausted, it was obvious to see. Her face was drawn, the skin beneath her eyes almost purple with dark pink rings around her half-lidded eyes. He wondered how long it'd been since she'd had a decent night's sleep, but decided against asking. It was a while before either of them spoke again. Charlotte seemed content to sit in silence and rest, so Logan began shuffling through some books on the shelf again. It'd been so still and silent, apart from the sound of pages being turned every now and again, that when Charlotte finally decided to speak again, he baulked.

_I should stop being so damn anxious. _He reprimanded himself.

"Elliott still won't speak to me."

"Can you really blame him, little sister?"

Aforesaid sister glared at him. "I thought you were supposed to be offering me support."

"And I am. You have my unconditional support, but really, did you expect Elliott to be pleased when he found out what Reaver turned the shelter into?"

Charlotte put her head in her hands, shaking her head numbly. "That's just it… I didn't think of Elliott at all when I made that decision. The only thing I thought about was how the money from the brothel would benefit the community in the long run. It wasn't until later when Elliott caught up to me and start yelling at me did it even click to me that the decision might've hurt him."

"And that's why the decision was brave of you, sister. Personal matters shouldn't influence your choices as a leader. You have to think with your head sometimes, not always your heart. I know the kind of person you are. Loving, honest, always wanting to do good… and you were able to do all that… when you were a Princess. But you're a Queen now, and it's time you started acting more like one. It's your responsibility to make the choices nobody else can. It's what defines you, and sets you apart from the others."

As he spoke, she nodded very slowly, obviously taking what he was saying into consideration.

"I understand that, Logan." Charlotte responded, rising out of the chair, walking over to stand closer to her older brother. "But it doesn't make it any easier to do."

"I know."He knew all too well.

He watched again at the way she moved. An elegant swagger, not arrogant, but proud. Just like…

"Look what I found," Logan said suddenly, quietly, using delicate fingers to pull a photograph out from under a few sheets of paper on the desk. Charlotte stared at him once she was in front of him, perplexed, until she laid eyes on what he held out. Her eyes widened considerably, and she carefully took a hold of the item – a photograph.

It was ripped at the edges, and slightly faded with time, but the picture was clear nonetheless. Four people sat in the photograph, out in the garden of the Castle. A forty-something man with a lopsided grin and a beard, stood beside a brunette woman in her late thirties, whose face was scarred on the right side; remnants of hardships and fierce battles. She had her arm around a small boy, five or six years old, and he was grinning at the camera, like his father. On the woman's lap sat a baby girl, thumb in her mouth, staring dumbly ahead, not really registering what was going on. It was a photograph of a family. _Their _family.

Charlotte turned the photograph over to read the untidy scrawl on the back.

_Alex, Sparrow, Logan and Charlotte; Charlotte's first birthday!_

Logan watched his sister's reaction, fascinated.

"I never even knew we had a photograph together." Charlotte whispered, her eyes swimming with tears she stubbornly refused to shed. Even before she became Queen and the world affected her, this was the most vulnerable he'd ever seen her. He gingerly placed a hand on her shoulder, and he was pleased when she didn't flinch away.

"Where did you find this?" She asked him, still in awe over the small, thin square.

"In one of the books I was looking through earlier. I was just going to leave it in your room later but you reminded me of it."

She continued to stare at it, as if she was seeing Avo himself. Logan liked the fact that she adored the photograph, and the way she appeared comfortable around him, not on edge like everybody else was. He could almost pretend they were teenagers again, then their relationship was solid and neither of them worried about the fate of Albion because they had their mother there to do so. When children are young, they believe their parents will live forever. It's a silly misconception of course – everybody dies at some stage… but to children, parents are almighty, opposing, and to them, they're invincible. And then something happens to them to prove to you that nobody's invincible.

Logan tried to push back the underlying bitterness he felt.

"You look like mum, you know." She smiled, unable to take her eyes off the photograph.

"Thanks, you look a lot like father, you know… with the beard and everything…"

That earned a swat on the arm from the younger sibling, and Logan smiled a very uncharacteristic smile.

"They'd be proud of you, little sister." Logan said finally, after they'd spent a few minutes gazing at the old photo.

"They'd be proud of you too." Charlotte replied after a moment, sincerity in her voice.

"They wouldn't be proud of me." Logan scoffed, disgusted with his sister's statement. "I was a monster, no better than that bloody Crawler. They'd be embarrassed. Ashamed… revolted."

"I wasn't talking about your days as a King." Charlotte shook her head, looking up at her older brother with surprisingly vulnerable eyes. "I was talking about how you're taking responsibility for your actions now. How you know what you did was wrong, and now you're trying to atone. I know you didn't mean to do the things you did… not really. You thought it would benefit Albion. It took me a long time to understand, and even after I spared your life I still didn't fully understand the reason behind your harsh actions… but now I do."

Logan watched her, eyebrows raised in surprise as she wandered away from his side to go and stare out the window. The sunshine shone on her face, illuminating her skin. She looked out at the people of Albion, _her _people; watched their bustling, their every day lives, with the knowledge that soon, many of them would not be around to do so anymore. The vulnerability she'd displayed only a few seconds before had completely disappeared; in its place was a hardness he'd never seen before.

"I understand your actions now, Logan, because I'm in your place. Nobody will ever understand the decisions we are forced to make, because they are not rulers like us. Like you said, it's our actions that set us apart fro everybody else. Avo only knows I would love to give them everything they want, but what's good's any of it going to do when darkness descends upon us?"

Mentioning the darkness incarnate made the hair on the back of Logan's neck stand up on end. The memory seemed to affect Charlotte as well; she'd wrapped her arms around herself, holding on tightly, trying to comfort herself as she relived the memories of the darkness. Logan could empathize. He remembered it all too well himself. The blinding shadows; feeling like you were being devoured by it, swallowed by it; feeling it suffocate you and tear away the hope from your heart…

Unable to bear the thought of his sister suffering through what he had, with careful movements, he made his way over to where she stood at the window, and placed a hand on her shoulder once more. Like before, she didn't flinch away, merely looked up at him curiously.

"You will defeat it. I know you, and I know how stubborn you are. They're no match for you, really… I almost feel sorry for them."

She let out a sound that sounded like a combination of a choke and a laugh. Finally, the tears that had been refusing to shed, since she'd been forced out into the world to become Albion's Hero, since she'd encountered the darkness, almost lost Walter; since she'd disappointed the people to benefit them, including the man she loved most… all those built up tears finally came out of her, and the great Queen broke.

And Logan couldn't bear to see her dissolve.

He tried to calm her down, but after a few minutes, he decided this was what she needed. To break down, and accept that she was no miracle worker, no great angel sent from the heavens to save Albion. To accept that she was only human, and could only do the best she could. But what Logan wished she would realize was that her best was better than anything an angel could do anyway.

To his surprise, Charlotte turned and embraced her brother, burying her face in his shoulder. He smelt like musk, and salt, and a little bit of alcohol. But it was a comforting smell. Familiar.

"I spent so long hating you." She whispered, clutching onto him for dear life. "Hating you because I didn't understand. And I'm so sorry for that, big brother."

"You don't have to apologize… I should apologize, however. I know you told me that day when I sent those rebel leaders off to their deaths that you would never forgive me… and I know I don't deserve it, not after what I put you through… what I put Elliott through. But I just want you to know… I regret it all, and I'm sorry. But if I hadn't done the things I had, you wouldn't have become the woman you are. The leader that you are; the leader that Albion deserves. So in a way, I don't regret what I did, but at the same time, I do… it's hard to explain. And I want to thank you for sparing my life when everybody was screaming for my blood. After everything, I wouldn't have blamed you… but that's the kind of person you are. You showed me mercy where nobody else would've. So for that… I thank you."

They were plunged into another silence. Logan was content to just hold his baby sister, as she sobbed quietly and sniffed; Logan couldn't help but reminisce about how this reminded him of when they were little, and they'd play in the gardens – Charlotte had been a clumsy little girl (though you wouldn't have guessed it looking at her now) and she'd always fall over and hurt herself. She'd cry, and Logan would hate the sounds of her anguish, so he'd kiss her head and hug her until she stopped crying. Then he'd take her to Walter, who would patch her up, and everything would be right as rain again.

But this wasn't a problem Walter could put a bandage on. Logan could only wish it was that simple. They weren't children anymore, and Charlotte didn't need Logan to protect her anymore. This fact had been obvious to him for a while, but only just now did it seem to be hitting him, and he was surprised by how much it hurt him.

How strange it felt for him to feel something like this again, after all this time, apart from some bitter emotion. While Charlotte had spent so long hating him, he'd spent a long time resenting her for not understanding him and his actions. But now, none of that seemed to matter anymore.

"I forgive you, Logan." Her voice was muffled, but he heard her clear as day. Before he could respond, however, the double doors that Logan had considered as an escape route an hour or so before opened, and in stepped the great Sir Walter Beck. Logan tried to pull back from his younger sister, but she wouldn't let go of him. She merely turned her head slightly so that she could look at the giant of a man who was now staring at them like he was seeing Skorm stand before him, wearing a tutu and dancing with an oversized, smelly fish.

"I'm sorry; I think my eyes have gone rotten again." Walter pretended to squint at the two siblings standing by the window. "Forgive me if I'm wrong, and my Queen, yes, you can put that rather menacing boot of yours up my arse later if I'm mistaken, but are you actually hugging your brother? No, wait, don't answer that. You're probably just strangling each other. Am I right?"

Logan wanted to frown at Walter's ramblings, but they had his sister in a small, un-Queenly giggling fit, so he was content to just let it slide. After giving her a pat on the cheek, Logan let Charlotte go. Walter trudged over to them, and Logan cleared his throat nervously. Even to this day, Logan still wasn't over the slight nervousness he felt whenever he saw Walter approach him. The man was huge, after all, and could probably squash Logan's slim frame into the ground with his fist if he so wished. And there was a time not too long ago that he probably would have, if given half the chance.

Walter exchanged a friendly smile with his Queen, before turning to Logan, who resisted the urge to gulp.

"Walter, I'm-" Logan began, but Walter cut him off.

"Ah, save it. Anything you've said to the Queen was enough for her to hug you, so I'm sure whatever it was, it suffices."

Logan just nodded, accepting this. He lowered his head when Walter turned to Charlotte to address her.

"Your Majesty, Master Elliott wishes to speak to you. He's been rather frantic, looking for you all day. I think it's time for a little _ceasefire_, don't you agree?"

This time, he could not resist. Logan pulled a thoroughly repulsed face, and both Charlotte and Walter laughed.

"It's not funny." Logan growled, but the edges of his mouth twitched and betrayed him.

"Whatever you say, Master Logan." Walter chuckled. "Your Majesty, I can tell Master Elliott to wait for you later, if you wish."

"No, now's fine. Thank you, Walter. Just give me a moment, won't you? And stop calling me your Majesty."

Walter let out another booming laugh, before exiting the library, closing the doors behind him. Logan and Charlotte were alone once more. For a while there, it almost felt as if the outside world didn't exist. It was only the two of them and their bittersweet moments of overdue reconciliation. Logan gave her a half-smile that she returned. She reached up once more and gave him another quicker hug. It was time to get back to the real world now, where responsibilities awaited her.

"I love you, big brother." She said fondly, patting him on the shoulder. Charlotte hesitated, before averting her eyes and heading towards the door. At the door frame, she turned and gave him one last nod of her head, and yet another small smile, before leaving the room, the hardwood door closing behind her with a soft click.

Logan's reply came too late, but he knew she knew without him having to say it to her face… but regardless, it still had to be said out loud.

"I love you too, little sister."

**Sniff, sniff.**

**It's so hard to write the Princess and Logan's interactions, since we never really saw anything outside of antagonism. Well, except towards the end, if you spare Logan's life. But still, that wasn't enough to go on with. Anyways, I tried my best, and I do love writing Fable stories, and this idea came into my head last night, and I just couldn't resist! : ) I felt that the Princess and Logan needed more closure than what they got, so this is me, giving it to them. Well, sort of. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this fluffy one-shot, and trust me, this will not be my last Fable fic! Til next time! Xo **


End file.
